– Former WWE Tag Champion Doug Basham moved to Florida, and is paying his own way to train at OVW. Danny is also in Florida but has decided not to pay to go to OVW. One would expect both (who are still listed on WWE.com’s superstars pages) to be at the RAW/Smackdown double-taping tomorrow night, with Vince having called a meeting of the entire roster. Drug/heart testing is expected to be implemented beginning the end of March, which may be the subject of tomorrow’s meeting.
– OVW’s Dean Visk was cut by WWE. There were at one time thoughts of bringing in Warlord and teaming them up.
– WWE has been less critical of OVW TV with Paul Heyman vs. how it was when Jim Cornette had the book. Cornette is still associated with the promotion, selling sponsorships (pizza, etc.) and working on the big summer shows. However, WWE’s plans to bring Spirit Squad and others to the main roster, turn Paul Burchill into a babyface (Bruce Prichard feels Burchill can be a huge babyface character in the UK), etc., made OVW have to change booking rather quickly. Others rumored to be called up soon are a 1950’s gimmick (including Jimmy Snuka’s son, an Andrew Dice Clay wannabe and rollerskating girls), “champion of Cuba” Osama/Armando Alejandro Estrada (Kazem Ali), the Highlanders and the tag team of Mike The Miz and Chris Cage. For a cool video montage of some OVW gimmicks (which is a good example of some recent booking changes), check out this video on YouTube.com.
– WWE developmental talent Angel Williams was close to being called up and teamed with JBL, but she injured her knee.
– Regarding OVW main eventer CM Punk (who reportedly has heat with the WWE office due to a recent appearance at Ring of Honor that was approved by WWE talent relations through Tommy Dreamer, but caught others above Dreamer by surprise), there are currently no plans to bring him up to the main roster. One rumor has him turning down a chance to be in the Spirit Squad, which was parodied in OVW and can also be seen on YouTube, here.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
